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Champcar Series aka What Bloody Team Mate?
I now have no patience with my only active team mate. He does his own testing, without using the setup data I post in team talk, then has the hide to complain when we don't get a spoton setup. And he doesn't post his setup until he's seen me post mine!?
Anyway, I started from P2 on the grid at Long Beach and proceeded to collide with every second car as I shot quickly down the order. A good strategy put both myself and my active team mate in P1+2 and we found some decent speed to stay there through the last round of stops and to the finish. I pick up bonuses for fastest lap and most laps led putting me in 2nd for the season.
GTP V8 Series aka The Pitstop from Hell
Started last, worked my up to first, went to the back again due to a safety car, never recovered. Not happy, but still leading the series. 2nd place is catching me again, damnit!
V8 Guinea Pig Series aka BATHURST!!
From 13th on the grid I surged forward to 10th by the end of lap 1, passing the Team Kiwi car parked on the side of the road after a collision. I set the pace early with a fastest lap on lap 4, moving up to 7th and developing a good rythym. Lap 10 saw my team mate not only set a fastest lap, but he did it while colliding with another driver before driving away grinning knowingly. By lap 17 I was again setting fastest laps and moving forward, now in to P5.
Pitting on lap 25 saw me drop way back to 21st and showing that my guess about tyre wear was wrong. Only 3 other people had pitted before me so everybody now knew I was doing at least 1 more stop than the top 13. With my insane speed I still held on for a miracle to occur. My team mate also chose lap 25 to collide with another car, again driving away unscathed and leaving a slower car in his wake. More cars started pitting around lap 27, so maybe I wouldn't be too far off the mark.
By lap 34 the first round of stops had mostly finished, and I was in P5 and still going strong. Lap 47 saw the second retirement of the race as an SBR car put itself in to the wall on the final corner. A safety car was scrambled, as were the pit crews. Taking a stop here I rejoined in 16th after mechanics took 10 seconds longer than necessary to put a wheel back on. My teammate suffered also, lining up behind me in the pits, however he only lost 3 seconds in the confusion.
By now the pit stops were all out of order, with different teams opting for wildy varying strategies. Thanks to my speed and the continuing stops, I made P5 on lap 66 and was less than 10 seconds from the lead. Both Tasman cars were ahead of me with Jules's team mate acting as blocker, and Jules himself in the lead. After Sandown, I had sworn not to let Jules take this race and I put on an extra burst of speed to counter his progress. I made it to P2 before pitting again on lap 75, when my pit crew decided to stuff me completely and hold me in the pits for an extra 8 seconds. It seemed that all my speed would be for nothing. Rejoined race in P11, directly ahead of my team mate.
Lap 93 saw me in P7 and setting a new fastest lap, before I again pitted on lap 95. By pit strategy had obviously let me down as I was now going backwards at each stop. I again found my self in P13, one ahead of my team mate. Lap 97 saw the championship leader become only the 3rd retirement, and the race became very interesting. All but 1 driver ahead of me decided to pit under the safety car while the stranded Jack Daniels car was removed from the kitty litter at turn one. I couldn't believe my luck as the field sorted itself out in to some kind of twisted nightmare. A look through each cars lap times saw quite a few slower cars advanced, giving me a buffer. I was now in second. Unfortunately the Autobarn entry was ahead of me and he had been my only real rival for speed.
On lap 100 the race resumed and I made an advantageous move in the dipper to take P1. Now to build as big a gap as possible. In 5 laps I made 8 seconds before another crash saw the safety car scrambled again and my race go to ruin. My pit crew chief called me in and I made my very unhappy way in for new rubber. I was devastated as I pulled back on to the track in 20th position, almost the lowest I had run all day. There would be no getting out of the basement with only 54 laps left.
It was now everybody's turn to rub salt in to my wounds, as I was held up lap after lap by cars running 2 seconds off my pace. With the final round of stops commencing I saw myself elevated temporarily to P3, before ducking back to P13 when my time for tyres came. A couple of quick overtaking opportunities arose and I didn't hesitate to climb to P11. Then came lap 156. The bad lap 156. The evil lap 156. The lap 156 that the devil himself fears. Edwards (P11) makes a driver error at turn 12. Edwards is out of the race. 5 laps from the finish - just 5 laps.
After dominating all but the opening laps, the Autobarn entry went on to win - a great result for a one-car team. My race was over after soaring to such great heights, my fastest lap was beaten, my heart was broken, and I slumped to P9 in the series. Jules, the game developer, managed a 6th and nows lies 2nd in the series despite his 7 DNF's. His Tasman motorsport team mate lies in 1st. This is a dark day indeed.
